Exactly right on all points. And we have the evidence of the hunger for this in internal communications.

Soon after launching http://www.myragan.com, we received two requests from major companies to advise them on “how to build a site like MyRagan.”

All of the reasons you listed were self-evident in the use of this space for Ragan customers.

Thanks also for bringing attention to our new social media site for communicators.

Mark Ragan
CEO

2) Tracking projects and tasks — this is an interesting issue and one that I think, if resolved, would be a bazillion dollar idea. Chatter Mill is not a project tool, but if you are using a project tool that works for you, Chatter Mill can provide a great post-partum (my business partner thinks post-mortem is a bit too macabre — who wants to think of their project as “dead” anyway?) feedback process. Leaders of the project can make themselves available to other members of the project team through our tool and are able to store valuable feedback about the project that can be referenced in the future. Like you, I am still searching for a workflow for making project management easier for all members of a project team. It’s definitely a Blue Hill “think tank” issue.

Regarding Rob’s final two issues — I think these are linked. It’s all about communicating strategy to employees and then making sure they have a way to funnel information back to you. It’s about the two-way conversation. Have you made it easy for employees to know how the company is doing on the #1 priority? A dashboard with performance metrics that is posted online or on a bulletin board is the best way to make sure employees can stay focused on the goal. Make sure it’s not too many measurements or a thick report. It’s about priorities — no one can prioritize successfully if everything in a 20-page report is a “#1 priority”.

Finally, Chatter Mill provides the channel for employees to dialogue with management about the business. First and foremost, it is a communication tool. The rating system, though, allows you to get a Snapshot read of the pulse of the organization. The reports can then help you drill down into the problem areas or even help get people past a particular area of pain so they can get focused back on strategic goals. Or even better, Chatter Mill helps illuminate employee ideas on how to improve.

I return to the age-old adage that employees truly are a company’s greatest asset — if that’s true, how come we don’t listen more to what they have to say. When you do, you will see employee engagement increase, retention improve and if linked with a clearly communicated strategic plan, Chatter Mill helps employees tell you immediately and directly when something hasn’t gone according to plan (not weeks later as it makes its way slowly from the water cooler to your office). Chatter Mill isn’t a silver bullet — think of it more as a silver tongue…for your organization.

First is meetings. No one has time for them, and they so easily get off track. We need to meet as a management team, but I start before 7am, and there are others that don’t start until 9:30am.

Second is tracking projects and tasks. I barely can keep track of my own tasks and projects much less the ones of the people that work for me or with me. Whatever the solution is here, it is a requirement that it not take more of my time to keep the information up to date. It probably should tie into everyones calendar, and possibly hyperlink to their email. But from there?

This feeds into the third issue of keeping track of our strategic plan. As top managers, we need to look at all of our tasks, and all of the projects we are responsible for in terms of the corporate strategy. How well is our #1 priority doing? If I make the tactical decision to do something, how does that impact my top strategic issues?

And underlying all of this stuff is ‘How well are we doing towards our tactical and strategic goals?’ For example, if we implement Chatter Mill, how will that help us achieve our strategic goals? How do we measure our movement forwards towards our goals and the effect that Chatter Mill had on this movement?